Fez el-Bali · The Nine Thousand Lanes You Cannot Walk Out Of

Fez el-Bali is one of the largest car-free urban areas in the world: thousands of lanes pressed together, the narrowest of them barely wide enough for one person to slip through sideways, donkeys the only transport, and some doors you have to turn around to get through.

Inside are the oldest university in the world and rows of dye pits. The story the medina tells about itself is that even locals do not wander freely: when you are lost, follow the upward direction, because the minaret of the mosque is always the tallest thing.

Guides will give you another rule: do not follow a stranger, because he will walk you round to his own shop.

Historical Mysteries / Fez · Morocco / 789